Black Friday – Google Adwords – How do I make profit?

November 22nd, 2017

Where do I start?

Well, first things first, have you got special Black Friday discounts? If so, then it’s a good time to get these written down and arranged into the character limits. You’ll have a 24 hour run to promote your products, draw in visitors, and get them to buy straight from your online store.

Using the wrong combination of ads, keywords and campaign settings can be your downfall if they are not set up properly. Not to mention having an existing remarketing campaign, that can be reworked to include Black Friday ads, this could also prove very useful to your visitors.

Google suggests that visitors are 35% more likely to purchase after being delivered an advert during the holidays. Since this is a limited run, the same methods come into play as you would normally see during Christmas and January sales.

Is Black Friday the only holiday I should advertise for?

Naturally, websites like Amazon and Ebay tend to not need Black Friday ads, but this doesn’t mean they don’t have the sales or use ads to be found. They simply have established themselves well enough to require less marketing due to their popularity and scale.

You may already have Cyber Monday deals, or Green Monday deals, which you are focusing on depending on your product/business type. There has also recently been another online type of sale which has seen incredible returns from sales, this was ‘Singles Day’ in China which recorded spend from consumers at a total of $25 Billion.

The sheer scale of these sales is just too tempting to miss. So in order to make sure you stand firmly with an opportunity to make some profit at this time of year, we suggest a couple of tips which could help you see a great return on your investment.

First of all, make sure you have agreed a budget which works for you, it needs to last at least 24 hours! Whilst this doesn’t sound long, with consumers hopping between websites to find a deal which is right for them, you want to be found. Some sales are running throughout the whole weekend, so it’s advisable that you work out how long you want to be present for and what you want to sell at a discounted price.

Companies like Amazon took in 36% of online sales during Black Friday in 2015: that’s approximately 28.8 Million shoppers who decided that Amazon was right for all, or some of their Black Friday shopping.

Some people will dismiss Black Friday shopping in the hope that the deals aren’t that great. However, we’ve already seen some of the line ups that companies like Amazon are rolling out in time for Black Friday, so it’s probably worth getting involved and seeing what the holiday can bring you.

So, what do we suggest you do?

Automated bidding would be useful if you have multiple campaigns. How you choose to use this and what platform you choose is entirely down to you, because you don’t want to pay too little, and you definitely do not want to pay too much, just to deliver someone to your website. Having said that, compared to staying up all night managing the campaigns yourself, they would more than likely prove their worth so writing a script for your bids is probably a good idea. Then just sit back and watch your campaigns draw in the online buyers.

You’ll have limited space to work all your content into an advert so keeping relevancy might be better for you if the product is wide in variation and others have good deals going too. Remember, you can set your ads to be keyword sensitive so this could be a winner for you.

Keeping your keyword list broad is probably best if the product doesn’t have multiple variations in name or description. However, if your product is unique like a particular model of a 4K TV then we would also suggest that creating a sensitivity around the model number or functionality will help people find you. If you go broad, you’d best make sure you have the budget to carry visitors through all weekend long.

This will also help with Google Shopping searches; just make sure your product list is up to date and refreshed so that Google shows off the discount you are willing to display to your visitors.

We see many adverts pop up for functions that the product sold doesn’t have the ability to perform, but this does not stop advertisers from diluting the gene pool of relevancy. As frustrating as it may be, it’s a tactic which pays off occasionally but will usually come at a high CPC.

Functional display ads would also be a good idea if you can widen your audience enough and create visually stimulating imagery with text bolstered into it. Similar to Facebook ads, you will want to make sure that the level of text on the image itself is minimal to visually entice viewers to click through and engage with your site effectively.

We would also suggest that utilising current email marketing lists to send promotional messaging directly to a user’s device will tempt them in checking the deal timer and see if they have enough time on first glance or come back later to purchase online.

What to expect?

Lots and lots of traffic, from all sources. However, if you sell services, then Black Friday won’t mean much to you, unless you offer significant discounts. For instance, if you are a company like BT or Virgin Media, then you’re likely to see Black Friday deals as an extra boost to your subscriptions.

Price comparison sites will also see high levels of traffic as this is a perfect time of year to take the fuss out of searching across various sites, and whittle down to a final seller to then purchase the product/service you are looking for.

If the advertising is constructed and run properly then engagement should see a peak in performance. Overall sales should show a noticeable rise in volume when compared to typical Friday sales, especially when compared to end of month purchases.

It’s worth noting that when looking into Google Trends, Black Friday deals tend to be researched back in October and then peaks for around 6 days over the week leading up to and on Black Friday. This is because the consumer audience is keen to find the best deals related to the products they are looking to buy. This should give an indication as to which products you can mark down to increase sales. So, do thorough research and compare against other products you sell to see if the trend rings true of increased visits and page exits.

Note: this is set to worldwide, so if your market is international then you’ll be able to see the data clearly. Not the same story for the UK as you will see below;

It would appear that in the UK, the searches for ‘Black Friday deals’ tend to be very short lived and have zero presence prior to November and following the Black Friday weekend. We know that Black Friday is very new to the UK and fewer consumers are interested in this spending spree here. However, this actually gives more reason to be competitive and present in searches for Black Friday deals.

Should I get involved in Black Friday?

If you decide that Black Friday does not pose enough viability to your business then don’t be too worried as Christmas and January sales might suit you better. It could be that you simply don’t want to spend investment on a campaign just to run over a short period of time. On the flip side, this short run of promotion might be enough to boost your sales to then invest the profit elsewhere in the business. Either way, the holiday is designed to draw consumers in, so it’s always a good idea to test the water if you haven’t already. We have plenty of clients getting involved in Black Friday, who really do see the benefit of the holiday.

We wish you the very best of luck in your goals and presence over the Black Friday weekend. We know it is likely that you have many areas to cover including your website and the ability to handle increased levels of traffic in comparison to the rest of the year.

Should you need our help, we are here and ready to assist you in achieving your goals and ambitions. Don’t be scared to call us on the Brave Batphone for any last minute assistance!

Hello there. I'm Gareth, the Digital Marketing Manager at Brave. With almost a decade of experience in PPC and SEO, I've seen everything from Pandas and Penguins to the horrible time that was Mobilegeddon. As an Adwords Certified Google Specialist, I have lived through almost every major shift in the industry! And that makes me feel old.

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